DUNCAN B.C., CANADA (August 9, 2018) – American Zach Bauchou held on in Thursday’s final round of the 114th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at Duncan Meadows to become the 14th back-to-back champion in history.

Bauchou, a Forest, Va., native, fired a 5-under 66 in the final round to finish with a three-stroke victory at 18 under par—tying the tournament record set in 1970 by Allen Miller.

“It’s truly an honour to be a back-to-back champion at the Canadian Men’s Amateur—words can’t really express how much it means to me to come up here and defend and play as well as I did,” said the 22-year-old. “I’m truly honoured to win this tournament again.”

In 2017, Bauchou became the 22nd American to hoist the Earl Grey Cup, and now becomes the third American to win back-to-back championships (Han Lee, Frank Stranahan, Albert Campbell).

For the first time since Monday, Bauchou relinquished the lead to momentarily sit tied at 14 under par with fellow American Philip Knowles, who surged up the leaderboard early with birdies on three of his first four holes.

Bauchou pulled away on the back nine, with a momentum swing on the 15th hole where he sunk a winding birdie putt, while Knowles slipped with a three-putt from inside 10 feet.

“He [Philip] played really well, especially on the front nine, he really putted good,” said Bauchou. “My putt was right in the middle which was really nice – sometimes you need those putts to go in in order to win.”

With the victory, Bauchou receives an exemption into the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Hamilton, Ont., from June 3-9. Having already received an exemption into the U.S. Amateur via World Amateur Ranking (No. 21), Bauchou had his mind set this year on defending.

“I think the feelings are a lot different for me this year,” said Bauchou. “Today I was playing to defend, and you have a little difference in responses and I was a lot less nervous today than I was last year, which was the different this year.”

Knowles closed in solo second at 15 under par. The Jacksonville, Fla., native also shot a 64 in Wednesday’s third round to set the course record at Duncan Meadows.

“Just like that you go from walking up the green, thinking you might get back to all-square to being three down with three to play,” said Knowles, who is entering his senior year at the University of North Florida. “I shot 15 under. You can’t shake your head at that, there’s a lot of circles on the scorecard.”

Elmira, Ont., native Garrett Rank finished in third place at 13 under par, also taking home low Canadian honours in the process. The 30-year-old will return to B.C. from Aug. 21-24 to compete in the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur at Victoria Golf Club, where he’ll look to collect his fourth title in five years.

“You’d like to add this one to the resume for sure,” said Rank. “Without sounding arrogant I have won a lot of Golf Canada championships so it would be nice at one point to get one of these.”

Earlier in the week, Team Quebec captured the inter-provincial title to win their second consecutive Willingdon Cup. Julien Sale (Gatineau, Que.) and Team Canada members Joey Savoie (La Prairie, Que.) and Hugo Bernard (Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que.) helped Quebec to a 10-under-par score and a seven-stroke win—their eighth victory all-time.

National Championship of the Royal Canadian
Golf Associtation, the governing body of golf in
Canada, representing close to 300,000
members nationwide.

In addition to
providing core services such as the Rules of
Golf, handicapping, support of turfgrass and
environmental research, and BMO Financial
Group Future Links, Canada's national junior
golf program, the RCGA also conducts Canada's
most prestigious golf championships. The Bell
Canadian Open and BMO Financial Group
Canadian Women's Open attract the best
professional golfers in the world, while six
regional junior championships, nine national
amateur championships and the BMO Financial
Group Canadian Women's Tour showcase the
best of Canadian golf.

Starting in 2008, the format of the tournament
has changed from match play to 72 holes of
stroke play.